FIFA was surprised by the list of nominees for the symbolic team of the year

More questions for the organization than usual.

The FIFA The Best award always evokes mixed emotions. With changing standards, controversy over who wins the top category, and an ongoing tradition that the best goalkeeper of the year is not the person who makes the team of the year for that position, but this year the questions begin when getting up early.

The organization posted a list of nominees for the aforementioned team of the year, and some of the names here encourage you to “cosplay Carlo Ancelotti,” that is, raise an eyebrow in surprise.

ISPORT decided to take a quick look at the most unknown opponents in each line.

Forward

Mohamed Salah, Robert Lewandowski, Alexander Serloth – these are the names that come to mind when we talk about the best strikers of last season. To you, but not to FIFA, the most powerful football organization decided to ignore the 4th best player in the Premier League in terms of goals + passes last season and two of the three top scorers in La Liga .

But the organization found a place for some players from the championships, which can hardly be called top. We will not find fault with Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Cristiano Ronaldo, because these are football legends for which at least one nomination can be given under the “cumulative system” (although achievements in the distant past are not a criterion) because they have more controversial names.

The award is called FIFA The Best, and its name suggests that the best of the best should apply for it. Can Akram Afif be called that? In Asian football, maybe yes, in Qatar certainly yes, but we are talking about world football.

Afif managed to show his level outside of Asia, failing to reach the level of world football giants like Sporting Gijon and Belgian Eupen, so does he deserve to be on the list with Harry Kane, Bukayo Saka, Kylian Sina Mbappe and Vinicius Junior even despite the crazy statistics in the Qatari league is a rhetorical question.

The same goes for Sufyan Rahimi, who is playing well in the UAE Championship, but this is his peak. He did not even try to gain a foothold in Europe, and he was not the main striker of the Moroccan national team, where his competitor was, for example, Youssef En-Nesyri, who became the top scorer and winner of the last Conference League, but FIFA believes that the UAE’s championship statistics are more important than the level of not the top, but still European clubs, although we will talk about what FIFA considers an impressive achievement in another time.

The name of the award also indicates the current year 2024, but for some reason the list of nominees includes Salomon Rondon and Germán Cano, who have an incredible 9 and 7 goals scored this season, respectively. In the 2023 season (the championships of Mexico and Brazil, where Rondon and Cano play, will be held in an annual system – approximately) They do better in statistics, but then they have to indicate in the title that the award was awarded. for the season 2023/24 so there are fewer questions.

Midfielders

Remember who James Rodriguez is? And Goose? They remember FIFA.

Players who were at the height of their popularity from 2012 to 2014 appear in the 2024 Best of the Best list of nominees, and in the same situation it is difficult to understand even if we consider their statistics of the season in 2023/24 .

Ganso was the winner of the Copa Libertadores and, in a rather strange way, ended up in the symbolic team of this tournament. Why is it strange? Because the 35-year-old attacking midfielder is not on the list of top scorers, or even on the list of top assists, and assists are a fairly important indicator in measuring the quality of an attacking midfielder.

But in this list there is Alan Patrick, known to us, who in all competitions has better statistics than Ganso, who does not even always enter the lineup of his team, despite the fact that he healthy, and in the championship of Fluminense he became seventh, therefore, is he worthy if a player who is not the best in his team, who showed himself to be average in the long distance, is included in the list of the best, decide for to yourself.

But the Brazilian often played for his club, playing more than 30 matches. James Rodriguez played almost three times less, including matches for the national team. Yes, tournaments like the Copa America can add “points to the bank”, but so that they are the only argument to enter the list of the best of the best? This is too much.

The MVP of the 2023 MLS season, Luciano Acosta, and the best young player of the 2023 MLS, Thiago Almado, compared to James with six top matches in almost two seasons, is not something I want to remember.

Protectors

One minute played against Monza, 18 minutes played against Bologna, 17 minutes played against Cagliari, 7 minutes played against Como and 3 reserve games this season. It’s all about the defender of the New Zealand national team and the “leading” Italian club Empoli Liberato Cacace.

But they can’t add him to the list of Antonio Rudiger, Dani Carvajal, Jeremie Frimpong and Alejandro Grimaldo just like that, can they? Yes, that’s true. He won the Oceania Cup, but how difficult is the task for the New Zealand team when their opponents are Fiji, Tahiti and Kiribati – judge for yourself.

In case you forgot, we mentioned James Rodriguez in the last segment. So, this is not the only case if the nomination is mainly for achievements in the national team. William-Trost Ekong was named the African Cup of Player of the Year, which is certainly a great achievement, but he only made 10 appearances for PAOK last season, despite winning the Greek title.

FIFA found a place for Trost-Ekong with 10 appearances for PAOK, but could not find a place for Euro and Champions League winner Nacho Fernandez, who may not have been the best defender in his teams, but in in both cases he played a more prominent role than William in the achievements of the Greek club

We also promise to talk to you about successes. So, the organizers of the award did not forget to bypass the centerback Nino, who played for the Brazilian Fluminense at the beginning of 2023, and do you know where he is now?

At the zenith of St. Petersburg. And let him be there, but surely the organization will not tarnish its reputation so much that it will indicate the championship and cup winning of a terrorist country as the main achievements of the player that is taken into account? It’s not going to happen, is it…? Yes, of course, what you are talking about.

To end on a less shameful note, let’s remember Dante, who was included in the Ligue 1 team of the season and captain of Nice, who scored the fewest goals last season and his inclusion in the list goes without saying otherwise. for the absence of Marcin Bulka, whose goalkeeper is the same Nice.

By the way, there are no questions about the nominees-goalkeepers, except that, if you want, you can remember Yassin Bounou, whose main achievements were only at the level of the championship of Saudi Arabia, but this goalkeeper proved that he was of a good level both in the matches for the national team and earlier in his career in Europe. The inclusion of Andrei Lunin in the list is especially pleasant, although not as pleasant compared to Nino among the defender nominees.

PS I would like to hope that if there are questions before the ceremony begins, there will be fewer questions about the ceremony itself, but in reality there is little faith in it.

Vasily Medvid, Isport.ua